morning wood
He’s a hunkentenor, and his name is Mark Tevis!
Questo e Quello
okay, you’ve lost me
“Take a 10-piece Gypsy band, add a hefty dose of opera, a dash of punk rock, a unicyclist and a flock of geese . . . ” [via AP]
are you ready to regie?
Lots of interesting guesses, but the previous Regiequiz seems to have stumped our panel. The opera depicted is one that has become something of a favorite of revisionist directors, La Juive. You can see some of the more interesting bits of the staging in context in this video from the Staatsoper Stuttgart:Â [kml_flashembed movie=”http://youtube.com/v/xEnPr8jbjb0″ width=”425″ […]
jungle red
La Cieca just taken a look at a detailed schedule of Met performances for next season, and so she’s only just become aware of the following very interesting couple of weeks around the holidays:
doubleplusungood
A loyal member of the cher public noticed this howler by Need You Ask in the online NYT earlier today: Unfortunately for La Cieca (and, well, yes, for anyone else with journalistic standards — so sue me!) the Times has already managed to do one of their “Ministry of Truth” numbers on the offending paragraph […]
Now the Great Baird
It’s Janice Baird as Isolde tonight, opposite (still) Ben Heppner. This is getting to be like a freaking mathematical exercise.
Rome is now ruled by the Etruscan upskirt
The barihunk on the right is Jonathan Lasch, in character for The Rape of Lucretia. [via barihunks, naturally]
questa e mimi
So La Cieca’s Met spy tells her that Angela Gheorghiu sauntered into a rehearsal for the Café Momus scene 45 minutes late after what must have been a leisurely lunch, then proceeded to offer “suggestions” improving upon the Franco Zeffirelli staging of the scene. La Cieca would say that given the diva’s track record, the […]
Pilates Diva Fleming Heads to Kazakhstan Opera Ball
Cher public, that’s the headline on a Bloomberg News interview with Our Renée, and first of all La Cieca will thank the news service for supplying us with such ready-made comic material.
keeper of the flame
Today is the 96th anniversary of the birth of magnificent Martha Mödl.
I believe you can do this, Gary
It looks like Gary Lehman will finally get a chance to use the full extent of his acting abilities when (inevitably) he takes over the final two performances of Tristan und Isolde next week. In honor of Gary’s return to the cast, the Met is splurging on an actual rehearsal for the maverick renegade heldentenor […]
leave it to jane
This season’s revival of Tristan und Isolde at the Met has led a number of you to wonder, “what the hell is Jane Eaglen up to these days?”Â
regie royale
As guessed so cleverly by Nerva, John and a couple of others, our previous Regie puzzler was in fact Gounod’s Faust, with barihunk Marian Pop as the mohawked Valentin. And now for another unusual take on a classic work. Can you guess the opera?
share alike
Well, La Cieca must say that she thinks it’s absolutely lovely that Renée Fleming is so generous a colleague. Not only did she lend Susan Graham a dress for her hosting duties on tonight’s Live from Lincoln Center, she lent Suzy her hair as well!
christ, what an armhole!
There are lots of jokes about stupid tenors, but have you heard the one about the tenor who was so dumb he couldn’t figure out how a jacket worked?
e sondra non ritorna
UPDATED at 5:10 PM: La Cieca hears confirms that soprano Angela Meade will make her Metropolitan Opera debut tomorrow night as Elvira in Ernani, replacing Sondra Radvanovksy, who is ill.
schlockheaded peter
Our own JJ recounts how “John Doyle‘s new staging of Britten’s Peter Grimes at the Metropolitan Opera sinks without a trace” in the current issue of Gay City News.
kiss the cook
[kml_flashembed movie=”http://youtube.com/v/5B6rY8VEwUc” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /]
In other Wagner news…
La Cieca has just heard a whisper that the Met’s new Robert LePage Ring cycle for the Met (beginning in 2010-2011) is already in the midst of a major cast change: Christine Brewer looks likely to be the new Brünnhilde instead of the previously announced Deborah Voigt. UPDATE: Now La Cieca has also heard another […]
the decision
This last-minute jump-in moves forward Robert Dean Smith‘s Met debut by two seasons. His official bow will be in a revival of Die Frau ohne Schatten in December 2009.
battle beyond the stars
The one and only Miss Kathleen Battle (currently on a recital tour climaxing in a return to Carnegie Hall) now has a state-of-the-art website!
Sony boy
Those A&R geniuses over at Sony BMG have done it again, signing 33 year old former shepherd and massage therapist/bricklayer Costel Busuioc to a recording contract after he placed first in the televised singing competiton “Hijos de Babel.” (The title of the show means “Children of Babel,” which La Cieca believes was also an episode […]
Todesteppich
Little Stevie reports on last night’s “danger carpet” incident during the Met’s Tristan:
I’ll take the fall
The days are getting shorter, but you can keep the prattle going this fall’s Talk of the Town! You will, you can, you must join in the discussion about: Great mezzo soprano performances (October),
Gained in translation (November), Teleport me back to… (December).